The author of a study published Tuesday cautioned against the idea that transfusions of “young” blood can reverse the aging process, a notion that has captured the public imagination and motivated startups.
In the new research, published in Nature Communications, scientists replaced half of the blood in old mice with blood from young animals, and did the opposite swap in young mice, giving them old blood.
They found that the younger mice experienced symptoms associated with aging — they stopped making new neurons in a part of the brain associated with memory formation. And the old mice seemed younger in some respects — their muscles recovered better after being injured.
